Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fall 2016

On Friday, September 30^th Weyerhaeuser hosted its eight annual golf tournament to benefit University of Georgia’s Langdale Center for Forest Business (LCFB).  Sixty-five degrees and sunny made for a fun day at The Georgia Club for all 144 players from the forestry industry.   On behalf of the LCFB, we thank the twenty corporate sponsors, in particular the Tournament Host, Weyerhaeuser, as well as three Tournament Sponsors – Jones Lang LaSalle, Drax Biomass and WestRock. The event raised $83,890 for the LCFB to support graduate student assistantships, and travel.

A Thursday evening dinner at Flinchum’s Phoenix Banquet Hall in UGA’s Whitehall Forest kicked off the event.  More than 90 industry professionals, Center for Forest Business Faculty and graduate students attended the Thursday evening cocktail hour and low-country boil. Weyerhaeuser employees and UGA graduate students volunteered Friday to facilitate a fun day for each of the 36 teams on the course.  To conclude the two-day event, Weyerhaeuser hosted all forest business graduate students for dinner Friday evening to network, discuss career paths and express support for the industry-relevant curriculum and exposure the LCFB offers its students.

A sincere thanks to our sponsors, volunteers and participants!

September, 2016

The Langdale Center for Forest Business (LCFB) sponsored six forest business graduate students to attend the Who Will Own the Forest Conference (WWOTF) in the Pacific Northwest. The WWOTF, organized by the World Forestry Center, takes place in Portland, Oregon each Fall.  The conference is one of the primary timberland investment conferences attended by 400+/- industry professionals each year.  The two and a half-day event covers various topics on the maturing and evolving asset, and examines the issues that will affect the demand for commercial timber, diversified values from forestland, and maximize returns to investors.

The LCFB offers sincere thanks to Outdoor Underwriters as well as Campbell Global for their support of these students in attending the WWOTF this year.  The opportunity to attend conferences like WWOTF coupled with coursework focusing on core business and forest management provides exceptional exposure to and preparation for the many career paths available to our students.  The LCFB is committed to providing relevant industry exposure such as attending WWOTF to its graduates as they approach graduation and enter the job market.

Left to right: Jack Durgin, Will Ficklen, John Mulloy, John Miller, Andrew Carey, Ty Gillespie.

This May saw a number of current Masters of Forest Resources students attending the school’s annual field camp.

The camp comprises of three weeks split by subject area:

• Week 1: Operations
• Week 2: Silviculture
• Week 3: Mensuration

During the operations week, the students visited a number of sites in Alabama. Logging operations, mills and manufacturing facilities were all on the menu. Our hosts were incredibly welcoming and put up well with the barrage of questions that the students fired their way.

The silviculture week exposed the students to a number of systems that differ greatly from what we may consider typical down in loblolly pine country. Longleaf regeneration and management near Savannah, a stop off at the Cradle of Forestry and a comprehensive look at hardwood management for different landowner objectives filled up the week pretty quickly. We also stopped off for a lesson on prescribed burning in the Tallulah Gorge National Forest that was especially interesting.

Right as summer arrived we started mensuration week with a short drive to a Warnell owned forest. Armed with cruising gear and brush-pants, the students spent the week marking off sample plots and surveying stands in a variety of growth stages. Too early for blueberries this year, everyone had to make do with packed lunches. I believe the record this year stands at 84 ticks found one one person in a single day.

Field camp provided an excellent primer for students that are newer to forestry, while giving those more experienced a chance to delve deeper into the industry by exposing them to some of the best operations, silvicultural systems and surveying practices in North America.